The White Rock Renegades ‘05 are off to a tremendous start at Canadian U14 Girls Fastpitch Championships in Montreal.
The girls softball squad – which finished second at provincial championships last month in Maple Ridge – sports a perfect 5-0 win-loss record at the tournament, with one of the victories being a no-hitter.
The no-hitter came in the Renegades’ first game of the tournament, a 6-0 win Wednesday against Ontario’s Whitby Eagles. Brynn Fortier was the starting pitcher for White Rock, and lasted four innings without giving up a hit, striking out six. Nolynn Hess pitched the final three innings in relief, striking out a pair while also keeping Whitby batters off the bases.
Hess got the final out of the game after inducing a weak groundout.
Offensively, the Renegades did most of their damage in a four-run fifth inning.
Later on Wednesday, White Rock improved to 2-0 after an 8-0 win over Alberta’s Sherwood Park Storm.
In the second win, the Semiahmoo Peninsula squad – which is the top B.C seed at nationals because the provincial-champion Fraser Valley Fusion ‘06 did not make the trip east – used three pitchers, and Madison Hiebert, Fortier and Hess combined to limit the Storm to just one hit.
On Thursday morning, White Rock faced their stiffest test yet, against the Manitoba Thunder, but still managed to finish strong en route to a 9-0 shutout. For the first six innings, the game was a 1-0 affair in favour of the ‘Gades, and it wasn’t until an eight-run outburst in the top of the seventh that the game broke open.
Fortier was credited with the win in the pitcher’s circle, striking out 10 batters, while Grace McMillan led the offence with a pair of hits.
The Renegades ran their record to 4-0 on Thursday evening, with a 10-3 win over the host team, Equipe Quebec U14 Espoir, and improved to 5-0 Friday morning with an 8-6 win over the B.C. Pride ‘05 team.
The round-robin portion of the tournament concludes Friday, with playoffs beginning Saturday. The gold-medal game is slated for Sunday morning.
sports@peacearchnews.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter